ROCHESTER — The Rochester Police Department announced they will soon issue dozens of court summonses to families with students who are overly tardy or absent for school. At the time same time, they will offer a “diversion program” which parents may opt to take to avoid large monetary fines.

The Rochester School Board’s Special Services Committee met Monday evening with Rochester Police Det. Prosecutor Steve Gahan and Lt. Anne Gould to discuss the issues of truancy in the school system. According to provided data from the start of this school year through Nov. 14, 531 students, from the elementary level to the high school, have been absent 5 to 9.5 days. So far, 108 students have missed 10 to 14.5 days and 88 were absent more than 15 times.

“We have some children who have been to school less than 30 days this year,” Gould said following the meeting, noting although truancy is a wide-ranging issue not specific to the Lilac City, it is time for the police department to take action.

The evening’s discussion pointed to some parents being at fault for their children’s actions, by enabling their poor behavior in allowing their children to be late for school or to skip it altogether. Gahan said beginning Jan. 1, 2013, the department will aim to issue violation-level offenses that will call parents before Rochester Circuit Court to face charges. At that point, parents may plead guilty and pay a fine or pay for an educational program once a week which they attend with their children at the police station. Gahan added if a parent continues to allow their child to be truant after pleading guilty, he could charge households as much as $1,000 per child’s absence after that.

Special Services Committee members expressed their satisfaction with the proposal.

Principal of the McClelland School Michelle McAlister stressed truancy issues start at the elementary school level and perpetuate as a child moves up through the school system. Attendance numbers for this year showed at the elementary level, 179 students had missed 5 to 9.5 days of school so far, as compared to 103 in Rochester Middle School and 235 at Spaulding High School. The Bud Carlson Academy, the district’s alternative program for high school students, had 14 students in that category.

“It’s vital we start at the elementary level because that’s where it all begins,” McAlister said. “It’s the parents that have to get them to school. Although we see it really prevalent in high school ages, in the elementary schools, we need to educate the parents on how important it is … ”

Following the meeting, Gahan said the point of the program is to raise awareness, not to charge residents.

“It may wind up initially starting out that that way but we’re trying to make a point,” Gahan said. “If they ask for the diversion program, we give them the opportunity to be kept away from the court system and in the long run, if this deterrent effect works and it minimizes bad behavior from other students, and bad parents, that’s what we want. We don’t want people to get criminal records. We don’t want people to pay $1,000 fines …”

Court liaison for the Rochester School District Robin Laroche noted the recent elimination of the Children in Need of Services (CHINS) program places much of the burden on police departments now to handle the issue of students cutting class or showing up late.

“Since CHINS has gone away, there has been a huge increase in truancy. Dover and Somersworth fine the kids, for kids skipping school, but that’s not as helpful. Parents come in with a note, so a lot of those get dismissed as well,” Laroche said. “I think holding the parents more accountable will benefit more in the long run, especially if (children) have younger siblings. I’ve been doing this almost 20 years and it’s basically the same families all the time that we’re dealing with so I really think this is going to be a good opportunity.”

Chairman of the Special Services Committee Julie Brown referenced recent reports that Portsmouth police have started showing up at truant students’ homes in the morning to get teenagers out of bed on time. Gahan said in Rochester, the department simply does not have the manpower to provide such a service.

“Ideally, if we could go to every house, we would,” he said.

Gahan said he will spend the month of December coordinating with the school department to identify those families with the most severe truancy issues. Letters will be mailed to families to notify them of the new system and soon after in January, court summonses will be sent to families. Gahan noted there could be as many as 88 violations delivered, pointing to the students who have missed more than 15 days of school this year. If families have two or three students who are truant, he said a parent could receive one violation per child.

Gahan said classes through the diversion program should begin sometime in February and he believes this is the only program of its kind in the state.

“This is the first full intervention working with a school board,” he said. “We’re hoping that will be effective as well, and we hope to set a standard for other communities.”